Leadership
Donnan R. “Donnie” Burris, President/CEO
Donnie Burris became the CEO of Burris Logistics in 2010. He is a 5th generation Burris family member and has worked in the business for over 25 years. Prior to serving as CEO, Donnie held various management roles within the company and spent several years working in operations.
Donnie is passionate about providing high-quality supply chain solutions, “WOW Service” to customers, and a culture where team members feel like they’re with family!
In addition to working in the family business, Donnie is a board member of Delmarva Christian High School and a former member of the Finance Committee of Bayhealth Medical Center. He holds a bachelor’s degree from Liberty University and has completed additional study in strategy and finance through Wharton’s Executive Education Center and industrial refrigeration courses through RETA. He is also a graduate of the WFLO Institute, the educational arm of the Global Cold Chain Alliance.
Donnie and his wife reside in Lewes, DE, with their four children and yellow lab. In his free time, Donnie enjoys spending time with his family and is an avid kitesurfer and duck hunter.
Sarah Ruffcorn
President, Trinity Logistics
Sarah Ruffcorn is the President of Trinity Logistics. In this role, Sarah leads all aspects of the Trinity Logistics company. Trinity Logistics, a Burris Logistics Company, seven Regional Service Center logistics offices and over 100 agent offices throughout the country.
A big believer in servant leadership, Sarah coaches and mentor’s other leaders to assist in their growth and success. She currently serves on the Transportation Intermediaries Association (TIA) Board, is co-chair of the TIAs Women in Logistics Committee, and the Nanticoke Memorial Hospital Board. Sarah awarded the 2015 Delaware Business Times 40 under 40 award being one of the region’s “best & brightest young professionals” and nominated as a 5 finalist the 2019 “Distinguished Woman in Logistics” award.
Sarah graduated from Western Illinois University a Bachelors of Arts Degree in Communication and she is no stranger to the logistics business, having spent 17 Trinity Logistics in several roles throughout the company. In these roles she lead major changes in the company, from companywide compensation roll outs, several complete operational software implementations, multiple team/department restructures, and executive re-alignment.
Walt Tullis
President, Honor Foods
Walt Tullis is President of Honor Foods, a $200M foodservice redistribution company (and subsidiary of Burris Logistics) in Philadelphia, PA. As a redistributor, Honor Foods buys food & beverages from manufacturers and sells to foodservice distributors throughout the northeast and mid-Atlantic.
Prior to joining Honor in 2012, Walt spent nearly 25 the Campbell Soup Company in a number of retail marketing assignments on the Mrs. Paul’s and Swanson brands before moving into the Foodservice Division as Director of Marketing the Soups, Entrees, Beverages, and Sauces product categories. He eventually transitioned to Foodservice Sales leading the Chain Restaurant Team before eventually becoming VP Sales the division.
Prior to Campbell’s, Walt spent two the American Chicle division of Warner Lambert in New Products Marketing. This followed a five year retail marketing assignment Ore-Ida/HJ Heinz. Walt graduated from St. Joseph’s University in 1979 a BS in Food Marketing.
Walt and his wife of 36 years, Lori – a registered nurse, reside in Newtown Square, PA and have two adult children – Zach, a Team Leader NetSuite and Emily, a Registered Dietician and Foodservice Director at Aramark.
John Hummel
President, Burris Logistics
John Hummel is the President of our Burris Logistics operational brand leading Custom Distribution, Direct-to-Consumer Fulfillment, Warehousing, and our ONEBURRIS Business Development Team.
Prior to joining us, John served as an officer and President – Central and Southeast United States United Natural Foods, Inc (NYSE: UNFI) from April of 2016 until his arrival at Burris. He, also, served as UNFI’s Vice President of Distribution – Central US from 2013 until his appointment to President.
Previously, John spent 24 years with Reinhart FoodService, a Reyes Holdings company, where his last role as Corporate Vice President of Operations (2005 – 2013) lead a 30 distribution center food service network totaling more than $7B in annual sales to more than 37 states. In a grassroots career, Mr. Hummel performed many roles at Reinhart, including warehouse selector, delivery driver, warehouse and transportation manager, as well as Director of Distribution their largest facility in Milwaukee, WI.
He began his career Walter’s Food Distributors, Inc., in 1987 and held various leadership roles in other large scale food distribution organizations such as PepsiCo Food Systems / AmeriServe and Institution Food House, an Alex Lee Company.
Don McEntaffer
Chief Financial Officer
Don McEntaffer joined Burris Logistics in 2018 and serves in the role of CFO. Don is a graduate of Iowa State University, where he majored in Accounting and has successfully passed both the CPA and CMA exams.
Don has many years of experience serving family-owned companies in the Food and CPG space. Prior to Burris, Don served as VP, Financial Planning & Analysis for Perdue Farms, and prior to that, as Corporate Controller for Well Enterprises (Blue Bunny ice cream).
Chris Cool
Chief Human Resource Officer
Chris Cool is Burris Logistic’s Chief Human Resource Officer responsible for the leadership of our Human Resources, Safety, Recruiting, and Talent Development team members. Chris brings extensive HR knowledge and experience, most recently serving as Vice President, North America for Eramet in Baltimore, MD.
Having grown up in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Chris is, of course, a Steelers fan. He now resides in Chester, Maryland, with his wife, teenage daughters, and son. Chris will be located at our Milford Office. Though he spends most of his time outside work focusing on home and family, Chris shared that at one time, he was quite an avid golfer.
Ed Krupka
Chief Technical Officer
Ed Krupka is CIO and President of Information Technology at Burris Logistics. Burris Logistics found Ed in 1977 by contacting the Computer Science department at Delaware Tech, where he graduated with a technical degree in Computer Science in May 1977. Ed came in for an interview on a very snowy January day in 1977 and started work the following Saturday in Milford, Delaware.
Ed grew with Burris and Burris grew with Ed. Since then, he has furthered his education in business and technology through numerous courses, conferences, and seminars at a variety of institutions and venues (e.g., Wilmington University, Wesley College, Wharton Executive Education at the University of Pennsylvania, among others), in addition to his 40+ years of industry experience.
Ed has served as an industry panelist and has been recognized by numerous organizations to include; ProMat 2009, named as a Rainmaker for DC Velocity magazine, featured in CIO magazine (Japan), and served on multiple boards and committees including Aberdeen Group’s Supply Chain Execution Research Advisory Council, the Technology Advisory Board at Cedarville University, the State of Delaware’s Health Sciences Industry Cluster. Ed was an early advocate and sought-after speaker about voice technology when the technology was in its infancy.
Ed is married and the father of three grown sons, two of whom work with him in the IT department at Burris Logistics.
Bobby Bailey
Vice President of Marketing
Bobby joined the team in August of 2019 as the Vice President of Marketing tasked with supporting all Burris Logistics with branding and marketing execution. Bobby comes to us from the world of automotive marketing, specializing in providing managed digital services to dealerships in need of SEO and social media. He was part of a newly formed team that grew from 40 employees to over 300 in 4 short years. Bobby’s experience includes event marketing for both consumer brands and in an agency setting.
Bobby’s vision is for a unified experience at Burris Logistics while still fostering brand individuality. His team of professionals offers creative and marketing strategies and business support to the Burris enterprise, operational brands, and support functions in the field.
Nick Falk
Senior VP of Business Development and Solution Design
Nick Falk is Burris Logistics’ Senior Vice President of Business Development and Solution Design. In this role, he leads the team responsible for creating Supply Chain Solutions for all four Burris business units. This team provides sales support by connecting our ONEBURRIS Business Development team and operations.
Nick joined Burris in January 2014. Before returning to Florida in his current role, he was the President of Burris Freight Management and Trinity Logistics, where he oversaw the growth of the business unit into a Top 20 non-asset 3PL through both organic and acquisition growth. Before this role, Nick was the General Manager of the Burris Custom distribution center in Orlando, FL. Nick arrived at Burris with eight years of progressive leadership experience from Target Corporation, including positions in Operations, Project Management, and Distribution Automation.
Nick lives in the suburbs of Orlando with his lovely wife and two children. In his spare time, he enjoys being with his kids, playing as much golf as possible, and the Minnesota Vikings…In that order, he swears.
Front Row (seated, left to right): Eleuthère I. du Pont, Allison Burris Castellanos, Jeffrey M. Swain (Chairman), and Cathy Pulos.
*Mr. Bob Koerner’s board term recently ended, we thank him for his dedication!
Our Board of Directors
Burris Logistics takes pride in being a family-owned, family-run business. To help us ensure the highest possible value to our clients, we have assembled a board of directors to provide balanced, objective, professional advice.
These directors represent the highest level of achievement in their respective fields and are amply qualified to guide Burris Logistics in both strategic and day-to-day planning.
Jeffrey M. Swain, Chairman
Jeffrey Swain, the CEO and Chairman of Natural Foods Holdings, was born and raised in Western Pennsylvania. Jeffrey graduated from Penn State in 1974 and received his MBA from California State University in 1977.
He began his career in the finance area with Borg Warner Corporation. Jeffrey’s experience in meat protein began at Foster Farms, Inc., on the West Coast in 1980. He has held executive positions at Con Agra and Townsends Inc. From 2000 to 2006, Jeffrey served as CEO of BC Natural, a holding company that included Petaluma Poultry, Coleman Natural Meats, Han’s Sausage as well as five other companies in the natural products arena.
Since September 2006, Jeffrey has partnered with Hilco Private Equity to create Natural Foods Holdings with the goal of building a financially sustainable fresh meat and processed meat products business. This platform emphasizes and promotes five brand tenets: the traditional family farmer, sustainable farming techniques, unparalleled animal welfare, complete livestock traceability, and “never/ever” use of antibiotics, added hormones or animal byproducts. Natural Foods Holdings comprises three companies: Niman Ranch, Sioux Preme Packing, and Prairie Grove Farms.
Jeffrey also serves on the board of directors of Sioux Preme Packing LLC, Palisades Partners and Odessa Chicken (Ukraine), and has testified before the U.S. Senate regarding livestock agriculture.
Read MoreZach Buckner, Director
Zach Buckner and one of his companies, Relay Foods, have been featured in national publications including The Wall Street Journal and Fortune magazine, “as a leader in the legendarily alluring and notoriously difficult online grocery space.”
His areas of expertise and interest include freight, operations research, machine learning, text analytics, simulation, optimization, and computer architecture. As a board member, Buckner will share his expertise in information technology, e-commerce, and strategy to build on Burris’ good health and help to extend our longevity well past the century mark.
Read MoreAllison Burris Castellanos, Director
Allison Burris Castellanos replaced her father, Howard Burris on Board. This appointment is significant as it represents the final transition of fourth-generation Burris family members overseeing the business to the fifth generation.
Castellanos, an educator and longtime advocate for the Hispanic community, will join the three sitting Burris family members on the board, Brad Hoopman, Scott Burris, and Donnan R. “Donnie” Burris, our chief executive officer since 2010.
For 17 years, Castellanos has taught English as a Second Language at Delaware Technical Community College. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the University of Delaware, and for many years has held leadership positions on the boards of La Esperanza Community Center, La Red Health Center and El Centro Cultural.
Read MoreBrad Hoopman, Director
Brad Hoopman is an equity research analyst for Glenmede Investment Management LP, an affiliate of The Glenmede Trust Company, focusing on the energy and technology sectors.
Prior to joining GTC in 2003, he was a senior analyst and portfolio manager at Gardner Lewis Asset Management. And before that, he was with PNC Bank in a variety of positions, including managing the technology sector of the BlackRock Small Cap Growth Equity Fund.
Read MoreCathy Pulos, Director
Cathy Pulos brings her financial acumen and human resources management experience to the Burris board table from Wawa, Inc., where she serves as vice president and chief people officer for the privately held company that operates more than 750 convenience store/gas stations along the Eastern Seaboard.
At Wawa, Pulos has developed “an HR center of excellence,” making the workplace better for its employees. At Wawa she has been saluted for advances in the design and delivery of workforce services, including everything from recruiting and hiring to compensation, benefits administration, and risk management and quality assurance.
Read MoreScott Burris, Director
Scott Burris is a senior director at Capital One in Wilmington, heading up human resources for Capital One Investing and leading all aspects of talent and culture strategy for the subsidiary.
Outside of the workplace, Scott Burris serves on the board of directors of Kind to Kids, a nonprofit organization focusing on serving at-risk children and children in foster care.
Read MoreEleuthere I. du Pont, Director
A DuPont director since 2006, Mr. du Pont is president, Longwood Foundation. He formerly served as senior vice president, operations and chief financial officer of drugstore.com, a leading online provider of health, beauty, vision and pharmacy products, and president and chief financial officer of Wawa, Inc., a chain of food markets in the mid-Atlantic region.
In April 2013, Mr. du Pont was elected to serve on the board of WSFS. Mr. du Pont serves on the Audit and Science & Technology committees for the Board.
Read MoreScott Charlton, Director
Scott Charlton joins the Burris Logistics board with over 39 years of progressive experience serving the food industry. Most recently, as the Executive VP of Supply chain at Sysco, Scott oversaw all aspects of logistics operations from warehousing, inbound freight, and outbound deliveries (with the second largest privately-owned fleet in the US). This included all maintenance, capital projects, real estate, and portions of procurement.
Before Sysco, he was the Executive VP of Operations for C&S Wholesale Groceries. Scott was responsible for all aspects of the C&S Supply Chain to include the expansion and automation of ES3 (3rd party logistics), the largest automated manufacturing mixing center in North America. Scott worked on the design and startup of other proprietary warehouse automated solutions.
Scott started his logistics career with Publix Supermarkets, progressing to the oversight and expansion of manufacturing capability, procurement, and distribution in his role as the SVP of Manufacturing and Distribution.
Scott’s board experience includes the election to serve on the board of Pacific Star Food Service in Mexico in 2018.
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